Why Most Podcasts Never Make Money
The $100 MBA Show
Host Omar Zihome explores why the vast majority of podcasts fail to generate revenue, attributing it to a lack of long-term commitment and un
Key takeaways
- The average podcast receives only 28 downloads in its first month according to Buzzsprout data.
- To attract traditional sponsors, a show typically needs to reach the top 1%, or at least 5,000 downloads per episode.
Main topics
- Podcast industry statistics
- The 'pod fade' phenomenon
Notable quotes
Podcasting is a long-term play.
Conclusion
Success in podcasting requires outlasting the competition and aligning
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) There are over 3 million podcasts in the world. The vast majority of those podcasts make zero dollars. Ever. Here's why. And it's a thing that nobody tells you before you start a podcast. Podcasting is a long-term play. If you're not willing to commit to podcasting for at least two years before you even judge whether it's working or not, it's not going to work for you. Don't start the podcast. But if... You are committed to starting a podcast. There is a way to win, and that has nothing to do with getting sponsors. Today, we're going to open up the books. I'm going to share with you real data from my own podcast and share with you the truth of the podcasting industry. I've been doing this for a long time, 12 years, over 2,800 episodes and counting. And I'm going to tell you how we are able to achieve the success we've had, but also how hard it is. We recorded over 200 episodes of this podcast, The $100 MBA Show, before we had a single sponsor. Today, we have over 100,000 downloads per episode. I'm gonna show you the real numbers of the industry. I'm gonna show you why most podcasts fail and a smarter way to approach podcasting so that your podcast pays. Let's go. Speaker 1 (1:23) Welcome back to the $100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow, and scale your business. Hey, if this show has helped you in any way, leave me a quick review wherever you listen to podcasts. This helps us reach even more people who need the same no-fluff practical business advice. It literally takes a few seconds, but it makes a huge difference. Thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey. Speaker 1 (1:53) Let's start with the hard data because there's a fantasy version of podcasting out there on the Instagrams, on the TikToks, okay? The average podcast, not the worst podcast, but the average podcast gets 28 downloads in the first month after publishing, according to Buzzsprout, which is a podcasting hosting platform, okay? 28 downloads. The majority of podcasts never exceed 100 downloads total. We're not talking about per episode. We're talking about... Out of all their episodes combined, they don't actually exceed 100 downloads. If your podcast does over 100 downloads per episode, that puts you in the top 25 % of all podcasts. If your podcast does more than 1,100 downloads per episode, it puts you in the top 5%. If your podcast does more than 5,400 downloads per episode, it puts you in the top 1%. Now, just to put it in context, our podcast has between 80 to 100,000 downloads per episode. Our best episodes do well over 130, 140,000 downloads per episode. Now, you might be thinking, Omar, that probably puts you in the 0.0001%. I'm not even one of the top podcasts in the world. You know, like Joe Rogan, Mel Robbins, these people, they do millions of downloads an episode. Now, here's where the monetization problem comes into play. sponsors typically want to see at least 5,000 downloads per episode before they even consider sponsoring you. I know this because as soon as I started to hit that number, we were starting getting approached by sponsors. But just to put it into context, basically, you need to have at least 5,000 downloads per episode. That puts you in the top 1 % before getting any traditional sponsorship on your show. That's a very small, that's a microscopic percentage of podcasters making serious money from sponsorships. And it's getting even more difficult as each day goes by. There are now around 350 new shows launching every day, okay? Most people quit long before they build an audience big enough to actually matter and get some sponsorship. This is also called as pod fade. This is like a term in the podcasting world. People have pod fade where they start to fade out of the industry. Many shows, many business owners, many podcasters I know personally don't make it past a handful of episodes, okay? It's crowded and it's a slow play to win at podcasting. And that leads me to why most podcasts die. Most of them die because they want a return too soon. Podcasting is not something that you're going to get a lot of benefit from, especially if you don't have an audience yet, right away. Okay, if you have a large audience already, if you have written five New York Times bestselling books and you have a Netflix special and you start a podcast, yeah, you're gonna have an audience because you already have an audience. But people that are starting out and don't have much of an audience, they have a very unhealthy expectation of what they're gonna get in return for the investment they're gonna make in creating and running a podcast. They record. 10 episodes, 20 episodes, 30 episodes, and they see like 28 downloads, 30 downloads, 50 downloads, and they get discouraged and they quit. But podcasting doesn't play in that timeline, okay? It's a long-term play. You need to commit for at least two years before you decide whether it's working for you or not. Most people aren't willing to do that. They treat it like some sort of marketing campaign that... hey, I'm going to start podcasting and see how it goes. And if it gets me return on investment, I'll continue. You're not going to win in podcasting that way. The shows that win are the one that still publish when everyone else quits, where you outlast them. I remember I have a screenshot of all the podcasts that were launching